


One Exception

by Miss_Nihilist



Series: I Think There's a Fault in My Code [6]
Category: Astro Boy (2009)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor Original Character(s), Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:19:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25428304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Nihilist/pseuds/Miss_Nihilist
Summary: Once, Astro was asked if he was exempt from the Laws of Robotics. He finally has his answer and he wishes that he didn’t.
Series: I Think There's a Fault in My Code [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767133
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	One Exception

The scream had come from nearby. As much as Astro liked hanging out with his friends around the Surface, Cora had a tendency to pick out seedy places. He understood that the familiarity made them seem welcoming to her, but tensions had been running high since Metro City fell back to Earth and violent crimes had been spiking as a result. Getting involved didn't make Astro feel good, but he also couldn't let himself hang back and watch someone get hurt.

He had promised Cora that he would be quick, telling her that he was merely calling his dad. The scream had been too far away for human ears to pick up, but Astro knew that Cora wouldn't buy it for long. She had already been eyeing him suspiciously as soon as the excuse left his mouth. Cora was going to ask about it later, he knew. Still, Astro wasn't going to give details like that in front of Widget and Sludge.

He landed softly where he had heard the cry for help, metallic boots clicking against the concrete sidewalk as his thrusters were replaced with feet. Astro frowned as he looked around, tilting his head to the side as he listed for the sound of a disturbance.

It was oddly quiet. The street was part of a town just at the edge of the robot scrap heaps that Metro City had left all over the Surface. It had been abandoned when the city fell and more and more people gathered around the edges in tent cities, hoping to gain citizenship. Astro knew that not everyone had left, though. There ought to be at least a few people milling about. The sun was nearly below the horizon so it was too early for _everyone_ to have turned in for the night.

"Hello?" Astro called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Is anyone here? I heard your call for help." He took a few steps forward but, after a few moments, there was still no answer. His hearing was usually pretty accurate, but Astro was beginning to second-guess himself. Had he overshot his destination?

Was he too late for it to matter?

Something clattered in the alley that he was standing next to and Astro froze. He almost missed it, the noise was so soft, but he knew that he had heard a whimper.

He stepped into the alley without a second thought. A discarded needle crunched underfoot and he ignored it. If Astro's skin could withstand hitting the ground at terminal velocity, he figured that he could handle some low-level thug with a bat.

"Is anyone here?" He tried again. When there was still no answer, Astro switched his vision to infra-red. It had taken a while for him to learn how to do it on command, but it was incredibly helpful. Sure enough, when he could see the heat-signatures, it was easy for Astro to make out two warm bodies hidden behind the dumpster, thoroughly cloaked by the shadows. He switched his eyes back to normal after verifying that it was only the two of them. "I can see you there, you know," he pointed out, trying to keep his voice from shaking. No matter how many times Astro did it, the nitty-gritty of hero work hadn't gotten any easier for him. "You might as well come out before someone gets hurt."

There was a chuckle from the darkness and Astro took a step closer. He had to squint to make out the outline of a face but no distinctive features came into focus. "I think it's a little late for that," a man's voice answered. Regardless, he complied.

Astro forced himself not to give away anything with his expression, but it wasn't a pretty picture. The man who had spoken had blood running down his chin and neck from a split lip and a crooked nose. His clothes were blood-splattered and filthy. There was a woman with him and he had one arm around her waist and the other clamped over her mouth and nose so tightly that Astro wasn't sure how she could breathe. She had the beginnings of what would be a pretty nasty black eye and tears leaked down well-worn tracks on her cheeks. Speaking of tracks, Astro could tell just by looking at her arms that some of the needles scattered around them were probably hers. She was pale and sickly-looking, slight and seeming to be perpetually shaking.

It was a good thing that Astro didn't have a stomach anymore, although he still felt squeamish and uncomfortable. Logically, he knew that he had nothing to worry about. The man wasn't even holding a weapon, but…

Knowing that didn't calm the fight or flight instincts telling him to get out of there.

"Let her go," Astro said more firmly than he felt, curling his hands into fists, "and no one has to get hurt."

The man sneered at him. " _Of course_ , if a little boy says so," he spat out sarcastically. He jostled the woman and she let out a muffled cry of pain. Astro tensed, unsure what to do. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but if she was injured beneath her clothes somewhere, then he needed to see how bad it was so he could decide if he had to get her to a hospital. "Why don't you run along, kid? This doesn't concern you," the man said lowly. "Bitch didn't pay her debt on time. She knew what was comin'. She got herself into this, so don't waste your goddamn energy playing hero for trash like her. You're just gonna get both of you killed."

Dozens of possible responses raced through Astro's head. He could tell that the man was inebriated (but was it a depressant or a stimulant?) and getting agitated. If a fight started, Astro didn't want to have to restrain the man without hurting him _and_ keep the woman calm. She looked like she was going to scream. At least he didn't have to worry about more people showing up.

Astro held his hands up placatingly, although he knew that the man hardly registered him as a threat to begin with. "I think there's been a misunderstanding," he said carefully. "You see, I'm actually a robot. I don't—"

"A robot?" The man blinked and even the woman had a flicker of confusion in her eyes. He looked Astro up and down, an ugly look coming to his face. "You think this is a _joke_?"

The conversation was going downhill, fast. "No, of course not!" He shook his head rapidly. "I'm being serious, I'm a robot! My name is Astro and I'm—"

"You think I'm an idiot? You wanna play make-believe, kid? You wanna be the indestructible _hero_?" The man shouted. He suddenly shoved the woman to the side, into the wall. She screamed as soon as she was free, but there was a heavy thud that made Astro wince as the man slammed his foot into her stomach and she was still, whimpering and clutching her gut.

"Please, stop." Astro was struggling not to shout. The memory of his heartbeat slammed anxiously in his ears and he couldn't think. "This is unnecessary, it's— it's just money, right?"

The man scoffed. "Just money, he says." He reached into his jacket and Astro's eyes zeroed in on the movement, unable to look away as the rest of their surroundings faded into the background. "Seems like I need to teach both of you a lesson in getting what you deserve. You should've left when I told you to, kid."

There was the glint of metal in the dusk light, a sharp scream that tore through the silence, and then Astro was staring down the muzzle of a pistol. He locked up, unable to move. It was aimed right between his eyes. It probably wouldn't even hurt him.

The woman was still screaming and it rattled his ears, making his skull seem to vibrate with a painful ache. She was shouting for help, crying out that there was a gun and, oh, wouldn't someone _save her_? And then the man looked away from Astro. He lowered the hand with the gun, but he was turning, pointing it at _her_ …

" _Stop_!" A cry rang out and it took Astro a second to realize that he had been the one who had spoken. His arm jostled as the metal plates slid back and sunk into the joint, there was high-pitched whirring and the stench of plasma filled the air, and Astro's vision was flashing red. Words blinked in his peripheral, warnings and notices and system commands, and he ignored them.

Three words: _Defense Systems Armed._

He didn't think, he just acted. And Astro fired.

The screaming only got louder. Astro was panting, breathing hard even though he had no need for it. He was trembling. The woman sounded like she was sobbing but, before he could even think about asking if she was alright, she had already darted out of the alley around him and was running. Her cries echoed in Astro's head long after she was gone, reverberating like a gong, settling around his temples and introducing a sharp pain that made him want to claw into his own skull and pluck it out.

Slowly, Astro lowered his arm. He surveyed the scene in front of him. There was a scorch mark across from him, an ashy smudge slapped onto the brick wall that signified the end of the alley. Blood had splattered everywhere, on the ground and on the dumpster and on Astro's clothes. A pool of it lapped at the front of his boots, the stain there at least unnoticeable.

The body at Astro's feet didn't have a head anymore. It was slumped over, its arm bent awkwardly beneath the weight of its torso, dislocated. The neck was singed and blackened. The stench of burnt flesh made him dizzy. Instead of a head, there was a pile of pink tissue with a large chunk burned out of it. It was still connected by the brain stem, but leaking out of the shattered skull, bone fragments only clinging together thanks to the sticky remnants of skin.

Turning away from the disaster, Astro stumbled out the mouth of the alley. When he tripped, he didn't catch himself. Someone was screaming again. He only realized that it was coming from him when he suddenly convulsed, choking on a sob as his throat muscles clenched and the ghost of his stomach churned, threatening to upend itself.

Astro _wished_ that he could vomit. He wrapped his arms around himself, sobbing and screaming at the pavement, longing to reach down his own throat and forcibly remove the _pressure_ that was locked in under his chest.

A memory rang in his ears. Astro could hear the conversation as clearly as if it was happening right next to him.

_"...but are you exempt from the Laws of Robotics?"_

_"I don't really want to hurt anybody."_

He had known. Even then, Astro had known perfectly well what he was capable of. He could crush people, snap them in half, reduce them to ash in seconds. He had died and been remade into a monster. Astro never wanted power, he never wanted strength or flight or impenetrability. The memory of the heat of the Red Core searing into his soul struck him and Astro couldn't help but think that he ought to have stayed dead, at least having died without ever knowing what he was capable of. Hot tears burned their way down his cheeks and he wished that he could drown in them.

He deserved it for what he had done.


End file.
